2 Birmingham men sentenced for tobacco tax evasion, paid state $1.4 million in restitution

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Two Birmingham men who own and operate
a company that distributes goods to retail convenience stores were sentenced last
week to 46 months each on charges of tax evasion and criminal possession of forged
instruments.

Farhad T. Jiwani and Allaudin Merchant operated Joey
Enterprises Inc., which does business as Northstar Wholesale in Birmingham.
They were sentenced Friday in Jefferson County Circuit Court.

The state collected more than $1.4 million as restitution to
the Department of Revenue for unpaid taxes and interest. Both Jiwani and
Merchant will serve six months in jail, followed by five years' supervised probation.

The men were indicted in December 2012 and pleaded
guilty on Aug. 12, 2013, for failing to pay state tobacco taxes between
January 2007 and May 2007. The also pleaded guilty to criminal possession of
forged instruments as part of their scheme to conceal their nonpayment of taxes.

The Attorney General's office collaborated with the Alabama
Department of Revenue to prosecute the case. Attorney General Luther Strange
and Revenue Commissioner Julie P. Magee announced the sentencing Tuesday.

"Our prosecutions of these cases send a strong warning that
tax evasion will not be tolerated," Strange said. "These matters are serious
crimes and we are committed to work together to thoroughly investigate such
matters and see that violators are punished appropriately for their crimes."

"Such crimes are committed purely out of greed, as both
defendants in this most recent case were found guilty of keeping a significant amount
of tax revenue as part of their tax evasion scheme," Magee said. "Honest
taxpayers are really the ones who suffer from the consequences of such schemes."